A CHEAP TEMPORARY SMOKE HOUSE. (Copyrighted; Reprint Forbidden.)

This illustration will give some idea of how a temporary smoke house can be rigged up with very little trouble, which will answer the purpose nicely.

Very often it becomes necessary for a butcher to re-smoke some bologna that has been shipped to him from a packer, and it is sometimes necessary to re-smoke Hams and Bacon. Also, a butcher will often want to cure a small quantity of meat and would like to smoke it.

When butchers who are not equipped with a smoke house have to do this, they may be at a loss to know what to do.

Take a clean sugar barrel and knock out the bottom; then set the barrel on top of a box about four feet long, one or two feet high and as wide as the barrel. If a box of this shape cannot be obtained, a large dry goods box will answer. Bore auger holes through the box under the barrel, to let the smoke through. Get a large piece of tin, galvanized iron or sheet iron, about one foot wide and 2 feet long and bend it into the shape of a pan, or take an old roasting pan. Dig a hole in the ground at the front end of the box, so fire can be put onto this piece of tin, sheet iron or pan and then placed under the box with the fire on it. After the fire is placed under the box, place a board over the hole. All crevices must be banked with dirt around the box, to keep the smoke in.

The meats to be smoked should be hung on sticks with long strings on them, so as to let them down to about the middle of the barrel. Cover the barrel up with a gunny sack, so as to let a draft pass through and still retain the smoke in the barrel.

This makes a first class temporary smoke house with very little trouble and expense.